When the Duke of Winterbourne proposed to Olivia, she felt like the luckiest girl alive. Thier happy marriage was the envy of the ton. But all that changed when Gabriel wasn’t there the night Olivia gave birth to their son…

Gabriel’s life is rooted in darkness, and he’s learned the hard way not to trust anyone with the truth. Yet, now his wife want’s to try for another child…and Gabriel must bear his secrets in order to bring Olivia back into his bed, and by his side, forever!

My View:

This is just about the perfect Historical Romance novel that you can get, it has everything that you want from a good book. suspense, intrigue, fabulous love story, character’s that you adore from page one, brilliant plot and I absolutely loved it.

It start’s off with Gabriel and Olivia, married but living as practical strangers for the past five year’s since their son was born, they neither speak to one another or in fact like to be in the same room as each other but all that changes when Olivia want’s another child but the question is can they put the past behind them to finally achieve the desired goal? Easier said then done especially when all Olivia can think about is what happened that fateful day that caused this animosity between them. It all started when Olivia was giving birth to their son, Gabriel missed that special event because he was in a brothel with a notorious Madam. From that point on Olivia wanted nothing more to do with him. But the thing is Gabriel had a very good reason to be in that particular brothel on that day.

Gabriel is actual a secret agent working to protect the King and the Prince Regent, as his father had done before him and as his brother doe’s alongside him. Gabriel is the leader of their little band of heroe’s which include various other high-profile aristocrat’s and on that fateful day when he lost his wife’s trust he was actually gathering information about a assassination attempt on the King. As the year’s goes by and His and Olivia’s marriage becomes nothing more than a few well versed notes handed to one another through the staff, Gabriel’s role as an agent is becoming more and more demand with this whole new assassination attempt on the Prince Regent, this mean’s that Gabriel has got an awful lot on his broad shoulders; this serious case and a wife that hate’s him but want’s a child with him.

Gabriel is such an incredible character, right from the first moment when we meet him as he is obsessing over how his cravat is tied, he is so mesmerizing. He is fiercely protective, to a point where his protectiveness doe’s push the love of his life away and Olivia is that, no matter what happen’s his love for her absolute, and no matter what she think’s she has always been his one and only. He is as equally fragile as well, he is deeply scarred from his past and from the betrayal that nearly cost him his life, and that vulnerability really make’s him such an engaging character.

” I have nothing to give you, Gabriel. Not even my anger.”

Gabriel was Losing her. He could hear it in her voice and see it in her eye’s. Once she walked out of his room, she would remove him from her life forever. He could not let that happen. He loved her too much to live without her.

He needed to tell her everything.

I love it when he finally tells her everything, about who he is and when show’s her his vulnerable side, when he is stripped bare and all Olivia see is the man that he is. Husband. Lover. Father and Agent. Gabriel is on his last leg’s and he is at the point where he may lose her for good and there is only one last thing that he can do to make her stay with him and that is tell her the truth. That for me is by far one of the most romantic scenes in the book and Benson has written it beautifully.

“Dear god, I didn’t mean to make you cry. Please, Livy, don’t cry.” He was pleading with her . She was the only one in the world he would lower himself to beg. Looking into her eyes, he no longer saw anger. There was something else.

“Will you stay? I couldn’t bear it if you left me,” he said.

“Will you promise to always be honest with me?”

“I will. I love you, Livy, with all my heart and all that I am, I love you.”

“And I love you. I always have.”

he had been so afraid he would never convince her to stay. Leaning closer, he kissed her.

If the lead character’s Gabriel and Olivia were so brilliant then the support character’s are just as engaging I do particular like Lord Hartwick; who is also a member of Gabriel’s team, he is charming, funny and too intelligent for his own good and I am very much looking forward to getting to know this particular blue-eyed rogue.

I have to say that Laurie Benson is right up there with the best, An Uncommon Duke remind’s me so much of my all time favorite series; The Inferno Club by Gaelen Foley, you have high-ranking, gorgeous peers of the realm secretly protecting the Crown and Country from enemies’ all the while trying to forge relationship’s with loved one’s. Secret’s of the Ton is a suburb series and this is one of those rare gem’s that you can read and re-read over and over again with tiring of and I absolutely insist that everyone read’s this.

Absolutely stunning, a joy from page one and a series that can only get better and better.

Hi Laurie,
It was an absolute pleasure reading An Uncommon Duke, which is one of the finest Historical Romance book’s I have read. I am so pleased that you liked my review and I am so looking forward to reading Hartwick’s book, if Gabriel’s book is anything to go An Unexpected Countess is going to be another stunner.
Thank you for visiting Chicks Rogues and Scandals, it is always a pleasure Laurie 😍

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